This beautiful chant album explores traditional Sanskrit mantras and melodies through a diverse tapestry of Indian and Western instrumentation. Sheela’s soaring vocals are wonderfully contrasted by deep soulful male vocals and a potpourri of instruments (harp, flute, harmonium, bass, tabla, viola, trumpet, guitar) are masterfully composed and mixed into an enchanting weave.

Spirituality & Health Magazine

Album Review of Shakti Sutra >>

by John Malkin

With Shakti Sutra Indian-American vocalist Sheela Bringi and longtime collaborator Clinton Patterson have created a sweet mantra album that is steady and sophisticated. The two honed their musical skills performing together as Premasoul, a group that combined elements of jazz, blues, and Indian chanting. This new offering remains grounded in Hindu mantras with subtle percussion, guitar, and electronics. Bringi’s lovely harp and flute playing stand out—they also recently graced albums by DJ Drez and Dave Stringer, who reciprocates here with vocals on “Krishna Govinda.” Shakti Sutra is calming and uplifting; it’s a journey into peace.

“Playing music has always been a way for me to connect to stillness and a sense of expansiveness within myself, and to feel a sense of openness and connection with my family and community,” Bringi told S&H. “These mantras were chosen to involve the listener. They are an invitation to sing along, sort of a private kirtan. These words have been sung in my family for generations.”

Bringi’s rhythmic harp opens “Ganesha Sharanam” with vocals by Subhashish Mukhopadhay, Sheela’s Hindustani vocal teacher in Los Angeles. “He’s from Calcutta and a disciple of the great Pandit Manas Chakraborty,” Bringi explains. “It is quite an honor for me to have him on this record.”

“Mantras are often as much about the future as they are about the past,” adds Clinton Patterson, who recorded, mixed, and produced the album. “This is the first record where we‘ve put electronics right alongside the tabla, harmonium, and violas. It‘s a new sound for us, but who‘s to say what the voice of God sounds like?”

Light of Consciousness Magazine

Album Review of Shakti Sutra >>

SHEELA BRINGI's first album, Incantations, was hailed as "the birth of Vedic Jazz!" She is an Indian-American vocalist and multi-instrumentalist whose musical talent is delightfully fresh. On her latest album, Shakti Sutra, featuring kirtan artist Dave Stringer, she sings verses from the Guru Gita, the Devi Mahatmyam, the Upanishads; mantras to Ganesha, the Gayatri; and traditional kirtan bhajans to Sita Ram, Krishna and Shiva. With an Indian classically trained voice, Sheela, also joined by Clinton Patterson and Subhashish Mukhopadhay, weaves a musical spell with soulful rhythms and acoustic textures. Instruments including bansuri, harp, strings, tabla, manjira, harmonium, guitar and percussions create a captivating synthesis of East and West with Sheela's exceptional voice soaring above all else. Sublime!

Midwest Record

Album Review of Shakti Sutra >>

Here's a girl that understands how to make girl-friend music. This multi-culti, multi-instrumentalist brings her harp to the fore and makes exotic music that doesn't sound like opium den music. Surprise your gal with this and some incense and candles and she's sure to lavish some surprises on you. A wonderful sonic trip to other places, this will do more for setting the mood you want than old Jackie Gleason instrumental records. Smart stuff throughout.

Midwest Book Review - The Library CD Shelf

Shakti Sutra Album Mention >>

Highly recommended for connoisseurs of reflective, spiritual soundscapes is Shakti Sutra by Sheela Bringi, an album of evocative music crafted to be especially suitable for chanting, yoga, and movement.